Pratt & Whitney to close surplus store on Nov. 30

The logo for Pratt & Whitney is featured prominently on the company's East Hartford campus.

By HOWARD FRENCH / Special to The Republican

EAST HARTFORD - Pratt & Whitney’s Surplus Store, which has operated on the company’s sprawling campus since 1999, will close on Nov. 30, company spokesman Bryan Kidder said.

The store offers old computers, tools and other no-longer-needed items for sale to the general public, but there’s been less to sell in recent years as the amount of surplus material has dwindled, Kidder said.

“The store has served its purpose well over the last 11 years, providing a means to recoup the residual value of items that were no longer needed,” he said. “The sales from the store allowed millions of dollars to flow back into the company for reinvestment.”

As Pratt has implemented more efficient operating methods, its plants have become “increasingly lean and efficient,” Kidder said. “This positive activity has caused the level of surplus materials to fall to a point where disposal of these goods is now the most cost-effective way to handle them,” he added.

The store will remain open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to noon through Nov. 30. The store’s auction site - www.going-twice.com - will remain operational for an unspecified time, he said.

The store stopped selling computer equipment a few months ago, the website says. It continues to sell other surplus items and has referred its computer equipment customers to the website of one of its affiliates, www.keylynx.com